Timbaland is one of the most important producers in hip-hop and R&B history, his forward-thinking sounds revolutionising the charts since the '90s. The Virginia native broke new ground by bringing a hard hip-hop edge to R&B: On Aaliyah's “We Need a Resolution”, Tim's skittering drums and signature beatboxing balance out the iconic singer's airy vocals. His beats were also instrumental in establishing Justin Timberlake as a solo star, as on the dance-floor hit “SexyBack”, and he proves that his own solo work is just as good with 2007's “The Way I Are”, an anti-materialism banger that sounds straight from the future.